Shared Pain
by scottydawg
Summary: Spike and Shin meet up one last time before the assault on the Red Dragon headquarters. Not my first fic, but I don't write much, so it's probably terrible.


Shared Pain

Spike made for quite the miserable-looking figure, sitting at the bar with his head in his hands as he was. An empty shot glass sat in front of him. It was taking almost all of his effort to resist asking for another... He wanted nothing more than to drink his sorrows away until he passed out, but he was going to need to be sober if he was to have any chance at succeeding in what he was planning to do.

He heard a chair creak to his right. He took his head out of his hands and looked to see who it was and whether or not they would pull a weapon on him within the next 5 seconds. But no, it was Shin, the person he'd been waiting for. The brown-haired man sat down and ordered a shot of whiskey, which was swiftly brought to him by the bartender. He downed it in one gulp and ordered another, then turned to look at Spike.

"So, how's your friend- Jet, was it?" he asked. "He make it out alright?"

"Jet? Yeah. He's on crutches but give him a week or two and he'll be fine." answered Spike "Dude's built like a fuckin' bear. He's lived through much worse than a single bullet to the leg."

Shin nodded a little, in awe of Jet's ability to take hits. There was a short pause, then Shin spoke again.

"So, you're really going to do it huh?" he asked.

Spike contemplated pulling his gun and threatening the bartender to forget that either of them were ever there after this moment, but decided against it. They were far away from Red Dragon territory, and there were no other customers. Besides, if his plan succeeded then it didn't matter anyways.

"Well, with Julia gone then what else am I supposed to do but get revenge!?" yelled Spike, nearly crying at the mere mention of his lost love. "Annie too... they got Annie too... I tried to help her but it was too late... she was in so much pain..."

Spike buried his face in his arms, quietly weeping. It was clear that these wounds were still very fresh. Shin gave a sympathetic sigh and put his hand on Spike's shoulder. It was only a couple of months ago that he was in that same position.

"I know that kind of pain..." he said. "I don't know if you know this, but Lin actually died-"

"-I know," Spike interjected, turning his head to face Shin but still keeping it buried in his arms. "I was there. Saw the whole sad scene... was why I sounded so surprised when you saved me at the Loser Bar. For a second, I thought you were him,"

"Understandable. After all, he was my twin," said Shin. He paused for a second, suddenly realizing what Spike had just said before that. "Wait- you were there!?" he asked, surprised. "Did he really take a bullet for Vicious like the Van said?" He paused again, drawing his face closer to Spike's. In a quieter tone, he said "More importantly... did he suffer...? Oh God, I hope he didn't suffer...,"

"Yes, it was as the Van said. Jumped in front of Vicious just as Gren pulled the trigger." Spike said, nodding a little. "And don't worry... he definitely didn't suffer. Was probably gone before he hit the ground,"

Shin breathed a sigh of relief. His brother was gone... but at least it wasn't painful.

"You know, I'm really pissed at Vicious for that," he said. "Really pissed,"

"You have every right to be," said Spike "I know how close you and Lin were,"

"Inseperable. He was my other half... no matter how shitty things got at home, how long we went without food because our drug addict parents were too high to remember us... I always had him to talk to," said Shin "And you wanna know what that dirty fucking rat bastard Vicious did when the Van called him up to explain what happened!?"

"What...?" asked Spike.

"Called Lin an idiot. To my face! Didn't have any remorse or even gratitude," Shin said with a look of pure unadulterated fury on his face. "You don't fuckin' say that about someone who just fuckin' died taking a bullet that was meant for you, even if it is true. Especially not to their twin fuckin' brother!" Shin downed his second shot of whiskey, then slammed the glass on the bar in anger.

"Fucking rat bastard is right." growled Spike. "I swear if he says that shit about Annie OR Julia then FUCK honor, I'm fighting dirty! Nobody gets away with saying shit like that about two of the most important people in my life."

Shin nodded in solemn agreement. "You know, you might have a bit more trouble getting to Vicious than you might have previously thought." he said.

Spike, now curious, raised his head a little. "Hmm?" he said.

Shin looked away. "Turns out the coup wasn't a failure after all. He somehow managed to put a bomb on that damn birdbrain of his and it went off right as he was about to be executed, which broke his bonds. He killed every single last one of the Van before naming himself leader." he said. "Was an absolutely wonderful scene to walk into... blood and feathers fucking everywhere.

"I can imagine," said Spike.

Shin got up off of his seat. "You know what? I'm done with this shit. I might have done some horrible things in the 26 years I've been in this universe but even I think Vicious is a psychotic motherfucker. There's no way I can work for someone like him. I refuse!" he said.

"Then help me." ordered Spike.

"That I will! I'll head back there right now and collect whatever ammunition I have in my room- there should be a fair amount. No need to decide on any signals- knowing you I'll probably know when you've arrived." Shin said, turning back for one last second before walking out the door. "You know, Vicious told me earlier today not to follow in my brother's footsteps... I'm gonna make him eat those words."


End file.
